Thief of the Frontline

Chapter 3

Morning came and Twilight woke up to the sound of Paper Cut's voice.  "Rise and shine," he said enthusiastically as he smiled.  "Its time for breakfast and Solar had the cook make something special for the occasion."

Twilight followed the energetic unicorn out of the room into the hall and to a large open area that she immediately recognized.  It was where her and her friends had first found the Elements of Harmony and defeated Nightmare Moon.  It was now occupied by several tables and around fifteen ponies.  All of whom were happily eating breakfast.  The air smelled of waffles, pancakes, and maple syrup.  It wasn't until then that she realized how hungry she was.

"Well go ahead and get something to eat," Paper Cut said.

Twilight didn't know where to start.  She walked towards the table where all the food was.  There were a few stallions patiently waiting in line to get some of the delicious food.  Then they saw her.  All of their eyes widened and then they bowed.  This kind of thing still made Twilight feel uncomfortable.  She had never really gotten used to being treated like royalty, even though that's exactly what she was now.  After rising each stallion backed up a few steps and allowed her to go ahead of them.

When she had gotten her food, she went and sat down near the end of one of the tables in a seat across from Solar Spark and Paper Cut who were both diving into their own stacks of pancakes.

"Its good to see you up and about," said Solar.  "I hope you like the breakfast we've prepared."

"It smells amazing," Twilight replied  as she levitated a fork.  She took a bite of the food, and swallowed.  "And it tastes just as good."

"I'm glad that you li..." Solar was cut off by somepony yelling across the room.

"Hey, Butter Knife!  She just said that your cooking is amazing!  Yeah bro!  She totally likes it!"

Solar and Twilight both looked in the direction of the voice, only to find that everypony in the room was looking at them.  Silence had filled the room.  Twilight wasn't sure how to handle this.

"Go back to your meals guys," Solar said finally.  "You can all ask her your questions later."  He looked back at Twilight and asked in a quieter voice. "You don't mind do you?"

Twilight shook her head.  "Of course not.  I'd be happy to answer any questions they have."

Paper Cut returned to the table with a second plate of food.  Somehow he had snuck away to get seconds without anypony noticing.  "Hey Solar.  Do you have any idea what this thing is?"  He held up a large spiky fruit that smelled sort of funny.

"Nope.  I think its something that Nightfall got from..." he paused to think.  "Actually I don't know where he gets these things.  You know how he is.  Always bringing back the strangest fruits from Celestia knows where."

"Its a durian," Twilight said as she finished her stack of pancakes.  "They smell funny, but I've heard that they're delicious.  Hey, speaking of Nightfall, where is he?"

"Beats me," Paper Cut said as he tried to eat the durian, only to poke himself with one of the many spikes.  "How are you supposed to eat this thing?"

Twilight let out a small laugh.  "I'm pretty sure you have to cut it open first."

"Nightfall is out on patrol," said Solar.  "At least, I think he is.  Every now and then, he disappears in the morning and comes back around noon.  Sometimes with more exotic fruit."  He looked over at the durian.  Paper was doing everything he could do to get it open.  Stabbing it with a butter knife, chewing on it, even slamming it down on the table a few times causing all the plates and silverware to shake.  It was all in vain.  The stubborn fruit wouldn't crack.

"You're doing it wrong," Nightfall said as he walked into the room with his saddle bags on his back.

Defeated, Paper held the durian out to Nightfall for him to open.  He took the fruit in his hooves and set it on the table.  He held it upright and stabbed it with a dagger that he pulled out of his saddle bags.  After making the incision at the top, he grabbed it and pulled it apart, splitting it right down the center.  "Dig in, there's plenty to go around."

Any appetite that Paper or Solar still had vanished as a strange odor, unlike anything they had smelled before, radiated from the two halves.  Twilight was the only one to levitate a fork into the durian.

"I think its gone bad," Solar said as he covered his nose.

"Its supposed to smell like that.

Nightfall's explanation was good enough for Twilight.  She took a small bite.  It was gooey.  It was kind of cold.  It was unlike anything Twilight had ever tasted.  It was delicious!

"This is really good," she said as she took another bite.

"Don't eat to much," Nightfall  warned.  "The first time can wreak havoc on your insides."

"How so?"

"You don't want to know.  By the way, I got you something."  He pulled something out of one of his saddle bags and placed it on the table.  It was a book.  A thick hardback book titled, "The History of Equestria."  "The point in which you and Celestia go missing starts at around page two thousand.  Should answer any questions you have."

Twilight opened the book and started flipping through the pages.  Inside were all sorts of documents, photos, masterful illustrations, memoirs on historic events, personal journals, and other things of the sort.  It was if she was holding an entire library in her hands.  "This is incredible!"  The thing that excited her the most was not even inside.  Her heart had nearly skipped a beat or maybe even two when she noticed "Vol. 13" written on the spine.

"More than  you know," Solar said as Twilight began to light up like a tree on Hearths Warming Eve.  "Its crazy that that thing is even in your hooves.  Where in Tartarus did you even find that, Nightfall?"

"I called in a few favors," he answered.

"I thought you cut all your ties with your fences along time ago," said Paper Cut, he was actually trying the durian.  He never was able to resist curiosity.  "That's what you told me a while back."  He looked at the durian again.  "Not bad."

"Just the dangerous ones.  And I got this one from somewhere else.  Ever heard of the Archivists?"

"Yeah.  They're those old dudes who go around documenting everything that happens so that its preserved when the king starts rewriting history books to keep ponies ignorant."

"Hold on a second," Twilight interrupted.  "Fence?  As in selling stolen items, fence?  What exactly did you do before you were part of... this?"

Nightfall didn't speak.  He looked around the room as he tried to think of a way to explain things to Twilight without her freaking out.  After some time, he found his voice.  "I was a thief.  Stole a lot of valuable things from a lot of important ponies."

Twilight looked at him for a second and then at Solar, who was nodding slightly.  Then she looked back at Nightfall.  "You were a criminal?"

"Yes, and I was good at it.  Stealing stuff is kind of like my special talent.  Pretty sad, huh?"

Twilight didn't know how to react.  In every book she had ever read, the princess was always rescued by a young, handsome stallion who always fought for the greater good.  Not Equestria's most wanted.

"Don't worry," Paper spoke up after swallowing another piece of durian.  "Nightfall here is a great guy and he's changed since then."

"Besides, its not like I stole bits from beggers or candy from babies.  Only a real cold hearted bastard would do that.  I stopped stealing things a few years before joining this little rebellion we got going on here."

Twilight looked back at Nightfall.  "So what made you decide to give it up?  What inspired you to come fight for this supposed righteous cause?  If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't remember."  His voice was barely audible and he had said it without thinking as if trying to dodge the question.

"So you just decided to stop for no reason?"  Twilight was confused.  "Surely something had to have happened to make you just give it up."

Now it was him who looked troubled.  He was silent.  He must have sat there thinking longer than he realized, because next thing he knew, Paper was waving a hoof in front of his face.  "Hey, you in there?" he said in a concerned tone.  Nightfall shook himself back to reality.  "Sorry.  That's a wound that hasn't exactly healed yet."  He wished it would though.

There were nights when he would go to sleep and see them.  Those young eyes.  Those young panicked eyes, full of fear.  He couldn't help but blame himself.  How could he have just stood there?  Why didn't he try to stop it?  Why didn't he do something?  Anything!  What was wrong with him!?  Why didn't he...

"Nightfall.  Nightfall."  He looked up.  Twilight, Solar, and Paper were all looking at him with concerned expressions on their faces.  "Dude, are you alright?" Paper asked.  "You've blacked out like that twice within the last two minutes."

He stood up to leave the table.  "I'm going to go get some air."  He walked off down the hall that connected to the large room and disappeared around the corner.

Twilight looked at the two remaining unicorns.  "Oh no.  This is all my fault."

Solar looked at her.  "No, he's just a little sensitive.  That's all."

"I should have just left it alone when he answered me the first time.  I'm going to go apologize."  She got up and left the table.  She began to walk toward where Nightfall had disappeared.  When she too rounded the corner, she saw him.  He was sitting in the atrium that no longer had its roof.  She walked forward and sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry," she said after a brief moment of silence.  "I shouldn't have pushed for an answer like that.  You obviously didn't want to talk about it."

"It's alright, Twilight.  Had to happen sooner or later."  He looked down at his hoof which was holding something.  Twilight saw this and also looked at the item.  It was a photograph.  In was a pegasus mare, a young foal wrapped in a blanker, and a batpony stallion.  It took her a second to realize it, but when she did, she began to feel even worse about what she had done.  It was him and his family.  Nightfall looked a bit younger.  His coat and mane were both darker and more saturated.  His eyes seemed more full of life.  There was a smile on his face.  He put the photo away and stood up.  "Alright, enough moping around.  We have work to do."

After walking back to the place where everypony was eating, they found Solar and Paper and sat back down.  Twilight levitated the book and started looking over it some more.  Some time later, Solar motioned for Nightfall to follow him as he got out of his seat.  "We need to talk," he said.  They walked out of the room and into the hall.

"What's up?" Nightfall asked, not knowing what this was about.

"We need more support, we both know this.  Twilight could cause us to get it."  He sounded unsure.

"So you think we should take her out and like... campaign?  Won't that attract attention?"

"I think it's a risk worth taking.  I'm just not sure if we should take it now or later."

Nightfall took a deep breath.  This was tricky.  Showing ponies Twilight would gain them support and turn the populace against the king, but this would also make her a target.  "It has to happen eventually."

Solar looked at Nightfall.  "I want you to be her personal guard."

"Alright.  If I'm going to be in charge of her security though, I am going to need you to trust me on some things."

"What kind things?"  Solar now seemed worried.

"Mostly how we make her known.  It's going to require us being known about too."

"Alright, what did you have in mind?"

"Back in my earlier years of being a successful thief,  I wasn't widely known.  It wasn't until about four months of rumors of some ghost or ring of master criminals that the government began to actually get aggressive in their search for me.  By that time I had built up enough reputation with local gangs and guilds to be pretty much impossible to find."

Solar was beginning to understand where Nightfall was going with this.  "So basically we shouldn't just go out and say, "Hey, here she is.  Viva la revolution!" but instead let here be slowly revealed."

"Exactly.  If only a small percent of ponies actually know the truth, we may be able to double the size of our force and actually have something close to a large enough rebellion for when the guards come knocking."  Nightfall smiled.  He was glad that he was actually getting to do something that stood for something.  Sure, gathering intel was important, but you eventually have to act on it.  Even if it isn't always right.

Solar looked back at Twilight again.  She was still talking to Paper.  Several other ponies had joined in on the conversation.  They were all smiling.  Hope, that was the one word that ran through Solar's mind.  All she was doing was sitting there and talking to them.  Just her presence alone gave them all hope.  "I guess we should tell her."

"I guess so," Nightfall replied.

"By the way, we're also going to need an identity.  Like a street name or something."  Solar said.

Nightfall looked at Solar with one of those "Really?" kind of looks.  "A street name?" he replied.

"Yeah, something that everypony can know to join.  Didn't you have one back when you were breaking into places for a living?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't a very good one.  Everypony just called me "The Shadow."  Kind of disappointing when you think about it.  So generic."

"Wait, that was you?"

Nightfall ignored the question.  He didn't want to tell him to much.  "What did you have in mind?  What do you want us to call ourselves?"

"I have no idea.  I was thinking that maybe we could just come up with something at a meeting.  Also, I'm going to have Paper Cut draw us a symbol.  He's pretty good at that kind of thing."

"Alright then.  Let's go tell them."

Solar and Nightfall walked back to the table.  Everypony was having what seemed like a pretty good time.  Twilight was explaining her battle with some evil being call Tirek.  She had everyone's complete attention.  Even Nightfall had admit that hearing about one hundred year old history from someone who was actually there was interesting.  "So is that where that large crystal castle in Ponyville came from?" some random pegasus asked.  "I always thought it was just was a gift from the Crystal Empire or something."

Twilight looked at the pony who had asked the question.  "What has become of the Crystal Empire and the crystal ponies?"  Everypony's eyes widened as they all realized what had been asked.  They all looked away, not sure how to break the news.  Twilight noticed this and began to worry.  "Wait, what's happened?  What haven't you told me?"

Solar interrupted the conversation before it could roll further down a hill and into a Manticore lair.  "Twilight," he smiled nervously.  "Nightfall and I have been thinking and we've come up with some ideas on how to get you back on the throne."  Everypony leaned in closer around the table.  They had all been waiting for this.

Solar looked around.  Not including Twilight, there were eighteen of them.  Everypony was here.  "This group was organized almost a year ago now.  Ever since then, we have been making slow progress.  But now, we are ready to make our first major leap."  Everyone knew where this was headed.  Because of Twilight, they had been given an opportunity.  A fighting chance.  It was time to act on it.

"We're going to go out there and make ourselves known, but first, we need a name.  Something to be called when we come out in force.  Second, we need a symbol.  A banner to rally under.  Paper Cut."  Paper Cut looked up at Solar smiling.  "You're in charge of designing that.  Have some others help you.  As for the name, well who wants to suggest something first?"

For the next hour, ponies argued and debated on what they should call their group.  There were a few that everypony liked, such as Equestrian Restoration which they all agreed sounded like a good TV show, but not a good rebel group, so it was tossed out.  Eventually they all agreed that it should have something to do with reclaiming the nation.  Equestria was free once.  More names were tossed around.  Sons of Reclamation, The Reclaiming Fire, Give Us Back Our Country!  The last one was simply made for comedic purposes and everypony laughed a little when they thought about how the king would respond to that.  Of course the answer would be no.  Finally, after much discussion, it was settled.  They decided to ditch the reclamation idea and replace it with a direct hint to Twilight.  They would call themselves "Then New Age Monarchy."  Now all that had to be done was putting it on a flag.

A few days passed and Twilight had made some friends.  She really liked all the ponies she had met.  They were all so nice.  She had started to get used to the routine of getting up in the morning and reading from the book that Nightfall had given her.  She still couldn't get over how much information was in it.  She now very much wanted to meet these Archivists.  Because of it, she was now sure that this king that was in charge needed to be overthrown.  The things she read about his "methods," she didn't really want to think about them.

In the afternoon she would walk down to a small room that was now being used for the production of the flag to help Paper Cut, the first pony that she considered a friend, with its design.  That is exactly what she was doing now.

Paper Cut showed Twilight a piece of paper.  It had a drawing of the skeleton of a pony wearing a crown.  The skeleton was being dragged down toward the blackened bottom of the page by thorny vines that wrapped tightly around its bones and twisted through its ribcage.

"I don't know," Twilight said.  "It kind of looks like a death threat."  She did have to admit that it looked pretty good for a quick sketch.

"Yeah," Paper Cut sounded a little disappointed.  "That's what Solar and a few others said, but Nightfall liked it, so it really can't be that bad."  He took a second look at the morbid drawing.  "Okay, maybe it is that bad.  What else do we got?"

Twilight levitated a small stack of papers and spread them out on a table.   Some of the drawings were the same as the last.  Skeleton ponies being burned or drowning with a crown that represented the tyrannical government.  "I don't think we should use anymore skeletons with crowns."

"Why not?"  Paper asked as he looked up from another stack of potential designs.

"If we're going to call ourselves The New Age Monarchy, it doesn't feel right to have something that represents royalty being destroyed."

"Good point."  Paper crumbled up a few more pages and threw them into an overflowing trash can.  "You have to admit though.  They do look pretty cool."

A few more hours passed and they were back to square one.  "Alright, so we need to reflect how we feel.  It needs to stand out."  Paper was now pacing around the room as he talked.  "We're trying to restore Equestria back to its old values, back to what we love.  What symbolizes this?"

"A heart, maybe.  That's what I think about when I hear love and values."

Paper started to write on a notepad that was almost out of paper.  "Okay.  So we have a heart.  That makes sense, but how do we connect that to a monarchy?"

"We could literally connect it."  Twilight used her magic to draw on her notepad, also almost out of paper.  She held it up.  There was a picture of a heart with lines stretching out from the center.  "We could draw something else to represent the monarchy part and connect it to the heart."

"Yeah, I like it."  Paper thought for a second.  "Here's an idea.  What do you call those tube thingies that connect to the top of a real heart?"

"Well, there's the Superior Vena Cava, the Aorta, Pulmonary Artery, Pulmonary Veins..."  Twilight said all this as if she was on automatic.  Like she new it by... heart.  There were a few other things that she named, but to Paper it just sounded like gibberish.

"Right," said Paper Cut in voice that expressed his confusion.  "So how about we draw a real heart and connect those, um... arteries to something that symbolizes the monarchy."

"So that's all we need then, but lets not use a crown."

"Agreed.  We need something that differentiates us from the king.  Something that he doesn't have."  As he looked at Twilight, Paper's eyes lit up.   "That's it!"

"What?"  Twilight was now smiling as well as Paper, although she didn't really know why.  She guested she just liked seeing him all happy like this.

"You're an alicorn.  We should work that into the design."  Paper drew a few more lines on his drawing and held it up for Twilight to see.  On either side of the oval that didn't really look like a heart at all, were two wings.  A horn hovered above everything else.  They were all connected to the heart in the middle.

"This is brilliant," Twilight said with excitement.  The sketch was rough, but she knew what was being aimed for.

"Just like you," Paper was still smiling.

"Wow, thanks.  Nopony has ever really said that before.  Except for my family and teachers back when I was in school, but that's expected."  Twilight blushed a little.

"Really?"  Paper was stunned.  "How has nopony ever told you that before?  Twilight, I've known you for less than a week and you've already proven to be the smartest pony I know.  And that's impressive with all the stuff Nightfall has taught me about the world in general."

Twilight turned a little redder.  "Well, my friend Rainbow Dash used to call me an egghead.  It was mostly just harmless teasing, but it may have been her way of complimenting me on my knowledge."

"So you know anything about transferring ink onto paper, or in this case fabric?

"No, I've never had anyone ever teach me that kind of thing."  Twilight looked over at some stacks of paint cans and sheets of fabric.  "You know how to though, don't you?"

"Yep, worked at a printing press in Manehattan a few years ago.  Paid pretty well.  Probably because my dad was the boss."

"So what made you decide to run away from that?"  Twilight asked.  "Seems like you had a pretty good deal going."

"I did, but you can only go so long printing out lies for a king that didn't give a rat's behind about the ponies that he ruled.  Just wanted to control them.  All us.  Keep us scared, ignorant, and blind.  So I went to my dad one day and told him.  I told him that I didn't want to work there forever.  That what we were doing wasn't as much of an honest living as he thought."

"And that angered him? Or was he more understanding?"

"Oh no, he understood.  He told me that the world had changed.  This was now what they had to do, but he was glad that I recognized the evil in the work that we did.  He didn't want me to go though.  Tried to convince me that this was for the best and all that.  Then we got into a fight and things got heated, so I left.  I wish it would have been on happier terms though. I don't know why, but I kept a copy of each newspaper I printed.  I guess they reminded me of home.  I show them to you later if you like.  About a month later, when I was just starting to struggle to make ends meet, I met Nightfall."

Twilight thought about this for a few moments.  She had never really been put through those kinds of challenges before.  Sure she had some stories about struggles with all sorts of villains, but for your last memory of your family to be in anger.  Her thoughts were interrupted.

"Anyways, I'll show you how to make the stamps for the flag."  Paper walked over to a box and pulled out some wood blocks and a couple of carving knives.  "Alright," he said as he placed the materials on the table next to a stack of drawings.

For the next few hours, he and Twilight carved shapes into the blocks and practiced stamping ink onto paper.  Eventually, when they were confident that the stamps would be adequate, they began to transfer ink onto the fabric for the flag.  Twilight went to work creating the heart, being careful to put all the sections in the right places, while Paper gently stamped feather shapes to form the wings.  Nightfall walked in a few minutes after the wings were complete.

"Hey, that looks pretty good," Nightfall said as he watched the two work.  They were covered in spots of red and black ink.  "I like the way that the heart is the only thing that's been colored.  Really makes it stand out."

"Thanks," Twilight said.  "It was Paper's idea to use the realistic heart over the simple shape."

"Yeah, but if it weren't for Twilight, I don't think we would have nearly as much progress done.  How much she knows about anatomy is nuts."

Nightfall held up a hoof.  "I'm sure it's all very interesting, but you'll have to tell me some other time.  Twilight, you and I are going to Ponyville next week.  Paper, I want you to come with us."

Twilight looked away from the  half finished flag that was now hanging on the wall.  "What are we going to be doing in Ponyville?"

"Gaining support for the cause."  Nightfall's attention was caught by the abnormally huge smile on Paper Cut's face.  "Are you going to be alright?"

Paper nodded, at least that's what he thought he did.  He actually more or less shook his entire body.  Then he jumped into the air.  "Yes!  Its finally time to get out of this crumbling pit."  He was now very excited.

"Yes, yes.  It is a big step, but there is one thing that we need to do first."  Nightfall pointed to a sword on his back.  "This isn't going to cut it."

"I see what you did there."  Paper was glad that his friend's sense of humor had remained intact over the hard times.  "So are you actually saying what I think you're saying?"

"If things go sideways, I don't want to be surrounded with nothing but a sharp piece of metal.  We're going to break into the Ponyville armory."

Paper's eyes lit up again.  He had never actually gotten to go with Nightfall on any of his jobs.  This would be the first.  "This is great.  When do we take off?"

"Tomorrow night.  Don't tell Solar though.  He strictly ordered me not do this."

Twilight looked at Nightfall and then at Paper Cut.  "Are you sure this is a good idea?  If Solar doesn't want you to go, then..."  She was cut off.

"Solar doesn't know when to act.  He's to nervous that he'll screw something up to lead.  That's why I'm taking advantage of this opportunity."  Nightfall knew what he had said, but he couldn't have ever known how much of an impact it would have on Twilight.

She knew that one day that she was going to have to lead Equestria, that is if they were successful.  She was also scared.  She had given orders to two guards when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna went missing as a result of Discord's vines that nearly consumed all of Equestria, once.  That was the only time that she had ever actually been in a place of authority.  If she was that nervous giving orders to only two guards, how would she do when an entire nation was looking to her for leadership?  This question scared her.  Would she be able to handle it?  Would she just one day snap under pressure?  Twilight forced these thoughts from her head.  No, she would be strong now.  She had to.  There would be many trials in the weeks to come.  "So how do you plan on getting in and out?" she asked.  "Surely it will be heavily guarded and sneaking in will be no easy task."

"Every security system has its faults, Twilight," Nightfall replied.  "All we have to do is expose them."

Twilight had a bad feeling about this.  She was still uncomfortable about going against what Solar had said.  Paper Cut on the other hoof, was one hundred percent sold on the idea.  He didn't know any of the details about what they were doing and he was still eager to go along with it.  "He must trust Nightfall completely," Twilight thought.  She didn't know exactly what they were going to do, but she knew she would find out soon.  She just hoped that this wouldn't end up being a mistake.